So, I can’t bench. But I can lift arms. Last night I did close-grip bench, lying barbell triceps extensions to my head, triceps cable push-downs and biceps barbell curls. I was particularly interested in how close-grip bench would affect my newly acquired shoulder injury. According to what I understand about my shoulder, that anterior and medial deltoid and pectoral exercises caused the damage, I thought maybe I could get away with benching with a shoulder-width grip (or slightly wider), bringing most of the work to my triceps. And after 2 sets of 12 at 135 lbs, going real slow and pausing at the top and bottom, my shoulder feels fine. There was a moment during my first warm-up set at 135 lbs that I felt a discomfort at the area of my infury but I kept stretching and warming up and later sets felt fine. I concentrated on retracting my scapulas, pulling my shoulder blades together, during all exercises yesterday, especially on close-grip bench – so much that my upper back feels worked today. I believe protecting my shoulder in this way is a technique I will need to integrate into my chest and shoulder lifts permanently. This injury tends to be painful only the day after work-outs that aggrevate it. It is now 2:00 PM the day following this workout and my shoulder still feels fine.